Strawberry Basil Preserves

I picked up a basil plant from Trader Joe's about a week ago and its tall stems were flopping over. Originally, I wanted to use the fresh basil to make margherita pizza (basil, tomato, mozzarella); but our weather has turned back to the Pacific Northwest norm of below 60 degrees F and not enough sun (not good for making pizza dough). Basil seems to go well with red fruits and this is to see if basil goes well with strawberries.

The basil might overpower the strawberry flavor in this batch, as I used more than 1/4 c of basil leaves. I added a few more whole strawberries to the remainder of the prepped half-flat to bring the total fresh weight to 2 lbs.

One jar didn't seal properly so it is in the fridge. Now I have two cups of jam to eat. Do you know what that means? More exercise.

Strawberry Basil Jam, ready for its hot water bath

Makes: 5 half-pints

Ingredients

2 lbs fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and chopped
1/2 c filtered water
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1 c organic granulated sugar
1/4 c roughly chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions

In a large saucepan, add strawberries and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to medium heat and continue to boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a food processor, combine sugar and fresh basil leaves. Whirl together until no large bits of basil remain and the sugar turns to a pale green color. Set aside.

Remove lid from the saucepan and stir in lemon juice. Add sugar gradually, stirring to incorporate. Boil for 5 more minutes. Skim off any foam that rises. 

The jam is ready for jars when the volume of liquid has reduced and the jam has thickened.

Pour jam into hot, sterilized jars with a 1/4" headspace. Wipe the rims, lid and tighten bands on jars before processing in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Blackberry Basil Seltzer

This version of the seltzer is more colorful than the strawberry one and can be served in short glass. Refreshing and light on the palate, this is another drink for a summertime dinner party.

For each serving:

1/4 c blackberries
2-3 basil leaves
1 tbsp syrup sweetener (agave, honey, or simple syrup)
seltzer or sparkling water
crushed ice

Directions

In a glass, add ingredients and squish together with the back of a spoon. Add ice and fill glass with seltzer water. Enjoy.

Strawberry Basil Spritzer

This summer, the sun has been awfully harsh with wanting to be in the sky for 16 hours at a stretch. At least the solstice has passed and the days are starting to get shorter. This beverage can be kicked up a couple notches with the addition of vodka, but is good enough on its own without alcohol.

Ingredients

4-5 organic strawberries, washed, stemmed and halved
8 basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1 oz simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, boiled and reduced by half)
juice from 1 lime
club soda or sparkling water
3 oz vodka (optional)

Directions

In a pint jar, combine strawberries, basil leaves, simple syrup, and lime juice. Let chill until ready to use. Scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture per serving, into a tall glass with ice. Add enough club soda or sparkling water. Stir briskly then serve.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

By the name of the recipe, you'd think that basil was the only herb that goes into this soup. There are certainly quite a few strong flavors in this batch, notwithstanding the crab stock I used in lieu of chicken stock. At the moment it is simmering on the stove and looks quite normal. Hope it tastes okay. I'll just have to wait and see if anyone notices that crab stock was used or if anyone can tell. When I made butternut squash soup the other day with crab stock, I couldn't tell the difference. Original recipe ratio is from Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook; what lies below is close to but not really. It reflects ingredients that I had on hand. This version is not vegetarian.

Ingredients

1 quart of crab stock (can substitute with chicken broth, vegetable broth)
1-2 cups of fresh basil leaves, whole
2 large beefsteak tomatoes, diced
6 medium roma tomatoes, diced
1 (14 oz) can of organic diced tomatoes
1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
small fresh basil leaves, to garnish
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes ( don't know what this really is, so I used chili pepper flakes)
1/2 tsp dried thyme or 1 tsp fresh thyme
olive oil, for roasting the tomatoes
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 c organic heavy cream, optional
pinch of baking soda and/or sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

1. In a 9" x 13" glass baking dish, arrange tomatoes cut-side down in a single layer. Drizzle a fair amount (up to 1/4 cup) of good quality olive oil on top and sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 40 minutes. It's okay if the skins get charred, that's what it means to roast a vegetable.

2. While the tomatoes are roasting... In an 8-quart heavy-bottomed pot, add olive oil, butter, red pepper flakes, garlic and onions. Let the onions sweat for at least 10 minutes over medium heat. It's okay if the onions start to caramelize, that will add a nutty-sweet taste to the soup.

3. Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil. Let simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

4. If you want to see some texture in this soup, take out the basil leaves before taking an immersion blender to the soup; otherwise, it'll just be green bits of something in the soup. This can be served hot or cold; except if you are having dinner guests, I don't advise making this soup 1-2 hours before they arrive since the soup will not chill properly if serving it up cold.

Blend soup until smooth. The soup still tasted acidic after the tiny bit of sugar and baking soda that I added. I also added some heavy cream and blended that in before serving.

5. Serve the soup in bowls and garnish with fresh basil.

Broiled Basil Chicken

This chicken entree was supposed to have more Thai flavor. The key ingredient of real Thai basil was the missing flavor essence from the marinade. I used boneless, skinless organic chicken thighs for this dish. I suppose you could use other cuts of poultry, and the cook times will be different. Better Homes and Gardens has an easy to use time table by cut for broiling.

broiled basil chicken, hot from the oven

As far as meal prep goes, this one is pretty simple if you have all the ingredients on hand. I used a large resealable container to marinade the chicken.

Ingredients

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4 chopped fresh basil, preferably Thai basil
1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp (up to 1 tbsp) chili sauce (I used a basic sirracha sauce)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp brown sugar

Directions

0. Combine all ingredients together in a resealable container and marinade for at least an hour, several hours, or overnight.

1. Place chicken on a broiling pan, or a lightly greased baking pan if you don't have a broiling pan.

2. If you need to move oven racks so that the meat is about five inches from the flame (if using a gas oven), you should do so now before turning the broiler on.

3. Let the oven heat up. Most modern ovens will tell you when the temperature is right. I have never measured the ambient oven heat when using the broiler, so the only test for doneness is by using a meat thermometer and checking the thickest part of the meat. Internal temp for thighs should be 180 degrees F, for breasts it is 170 degrees F, and for patties it is 165 degrees F. Keep in mind that the chicken will continue to cook after you remove it from the oven.

4. Broil chicken thighs for 20 minutes total, 10 minutes each side. Remove from heat and serve with hot steamed rice.

Pizza Margherita

No pizza stones were harmed in the making of these pizzas. But, the real reason is that I don't actually own a pizza stone. And while the notion of using the reverse side of my cast iron pan had crossed my mind, I ended up using a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper and a medium-ground cornmeal between the paper and the dough. I've read that one can get an extra crispy crust this way by letting the pizza bake on the middle rack in the oven, directly on the rack itself, for the last 2-3 minutes. Alas, I'm too lazy for that.

These recipes have been adapted from one of Emeril's episodes on pizza with minor tweaks. Number one, I wasn't about to crack open a bottle of cab just to put a few tablespoons of it into the sauce; I used the next best thing on the counter...shaoxing rice wine (Chinese red rice wine). If you are able to ingest onions, they go into oil at the same time as the garlic. As far as whatever differences there are between EVOO and regular olive oil, I really have no idea, but since it all costs the same, my pantry is stocked with EVOO. Also, a lot of my recipes call for sea salt. For pizza you can use just about any type of salt, including kosher salt.

Margherita pizza implies only three toppings that represent the Italian flag are used: tomato sauce (red), fresh basil (green), and fresh mozzarella cheese (white). You'll want to procure some fresh mozzarella cheese for this and slice it into thin rounds. They are just going to melt into blobs on top of the pizza, so whatever shape you do cut them into, that is what they are more or less going to melt into.

If you are going to use a pizza stone, it is important that you let the stone heat up in the oven so that your dough cooks evenly.

1/4 c. medium-ground cornmeal (optional)
up to 8 oz of fresh mozzarella cheese

Basic Tomato Sauce

One (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes, no salt added
1/2 c. water (use it in the can to rinse out the tomato particulates)
2-3 tbsp red wine (or xiaoxing red rice wine)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic (roughly 3-4 medium cloves)
up to 1 tbsp dried oregano (or fresh if you have it)
6 fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 small red onion, finely diced (optional)

Sauce directions

1. In a medium pot, heat oil until it spreads along the bottom of the pot easily. Add the garlic (and onion) and stir until the onion is soft and translucent and the garlic hasn't burned or turned golden brown. The idea is to flavor the oil, I think.

2. Add the tomatoes, basil leaves, wine, oregano, salt and pepper, and water. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes.

3. Let the sauce cool before putting it on the pizza dough.

Pizza Dough

This dough uses all-purpose flour which creates a much chewier crust than say, using a high gluten flour. You could also buy gluten to add to the all purpose flour, but that's an extra step and who really wants to run to Whole Foods for just one ingredient. Also, a 4-oz jar of Red Star active dry yeast lasts a lot longer than the packets when kept in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

3 1/2 to 4 c. all-purpose unbleached flour 
1 1/2 c. water, 110 degrees F
2 tbsp EVOO, plus 2 tsp for greasing a large bowl
1 envelope instant dry yeast -or- 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (if you have the jar stuff)
1 tsp organic granulated sugar
1 tsp sea salt

Dough directions

1. Combine flour, sugar, yeast, olive oil, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or in the bread receptacle of a bread machine. While the mixer is running, gradually add the water and mix until the dough comes together. Knead by hand (or if you're lazy, in the standmixer) until the dough is smooth and elastic.

2. Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 tsp of olive oil, form the dough into a ball, and add it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or use another equal sized bowl on top, using binder clips to keep the edges of the two bowls together). Let the dough rest in a warm area (roughly 80-85 degrees F) and let it double in size for an hour.

This might be tough to do during the winter. But wait, there is a workaround. Place the covered bowl into the oven on the middle rack. Fill an 8x8 or 9x13 baking pan with boiling water. Put the baking pan on the floor of the oven and close the door. This'll create a warm environment for the dough.

3. Depending on how large a pizza you have baking space to make will determine how many pieces you cut this blob of dough into. I cut it into fourths, so each piece makes about an 8" pizza. You can cut it in half and make two 14" pizzas. After cutting the dough into sections, turn each section as you are about to make it into a pizza, onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it a bit then cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

4. Roll out the dough into a shape that resembles something circular.

Putting It All Together

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

1. Take our rolled out pizza dough and spread some of the cooled tomato sauce on it. Be sure to have at least a half inch to an inch gap betwee the edge of the pizza and the sauce. Otherwise, the sauce spills out over the side of the pizza and makes a rather burnt mess.

2. Add thin slices of mozzarella and sprinkle with fresh basil leaves. You could add more dried oregano, but that is totally up to you, since it is already in the sauce. For the first pizza I had the basil on top of the cheese; the second pizza had the cheese on top of the basil. It makes no difference.

3. Bake on the center rack for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden brown and the cheese has melted.

The pizza is supposed to cool on a rack, but my first pizza never made it that far. *nom nom nom*

View pics.

Basil Vinaigrette

Though basil isn't on my list of frequently used herbs, it does make certain sauces taste really good. This can be poured on top of sliced avocados, eaten with a leafy green salad, or served up with toasted slices of bread. 

Ingredients

1 c. basil leaves, washed, drained, with stems removed 
2 large garlic cloves, sliced 
2 tbsp Dijon mustard 
1/8 c. balsamic vinegar 
1/4 tsp sugar 
3 tbsp water 
1 c. olive oil 
dash of salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper 

Directions

Pureé all in a food processor until smooth. Makes about 1 cup. Goes well with tossed salad greens.